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26.1.12

Israel was given this cute little Ferm Living cup from Harabu House last week. It's kind of perfect for his little hands and he loves the Panda Bear, he loves Pandas for some reason. Of course the most exciting thing is opening the box that was delivered to the house, he is so intrigued with the mystery of the box's contents. Anyways, he loves his little cup and asks for it all the time, drinks from it and spills plenty of water everywhere.Israel loves to play in his room, at his little desks that are right at his level. He turns on his lamp and music, colors & paints, races his cars up and down and just makes a general mess. I am not one to tolerate toys everywhere, it is very stressful for me but at the same time I want Israel to have fun and spend time playing with his imagination and not be prohibited by his mom's need to keep things put away. To solve this, I keep his toys in these white bins that are on a high shelf (somewhat visible in the 2nd photo) and take one or two down at a time. When he wants more toys down, I have him put the toys back into the bins and trade them for new ones. That way all of his toys are not out at once but he still gets to play and make a mess.I was wondering what all you other mothers out there do to keep the toys organized? Any brilliant tips you'd be willing to share?

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Bins, baskets and crates are all fantastic but toys do tend to get "lost" in their depths after a while. I'm always trying to purge the excess, usually when the kids are at school and won't notice! It's hard when generous grandparents keep adding to the odds 'n ends though. I've had to learn to give my brood much looser reign in their rooms or else I'd be endlessly picking up after them and driving us all crazy! ~Lily

That cup is so sweet! I have a few cards of the same animals up in my son's room. (They're by Darling Clementine if you ever wanted to check out more of their stuff.)

I have a few baskets to store my toddler's big toys and stacking containers/shelves for cars, people, animals etc, so if he does make a huge mess it so quick and easy to shove the various toys into their 'homes'.

As a mother of three, I have learned to let go... :) We have bins and baskets for everything, and we put everything back in it's right place before bedtime, but during the day it's mostly a big mess. But I don't mind. My kids are quite good at cleaning up their toys before switching to a new game, so it's not really that bad actually.

My strategy is actually quite the opposite from yours. I keep everything (toys, craft materials, books etc) where the kids can reach it. That way they can also put it back by themselves. And they get a good overview of what they have. I feel that if I would keep their things on high shelves, their stuff would be my responsibility, and I don't want that. By keeping everything at their level they can help with putting it back from a very early age, and it becomes part of their natural routine to do so. My youngest is two years old now and she is very good at tidying up, without even having to be prompted to do so.

And, I like to purge. Unfortunately, I am very alone with that in family, all of the others are big time hoarders! So I have to throw their junk away little by little when they aren't looking. :D

This is how we do it at our house, too. The toys are stored in their rooms so at the end of the day when they are in bed my husband and I can enjoy a few hours in the living room without the toys in sight.

The thing I struggle with more than toys is art projects. I feel like I'm drowning in paintings, glued masterpieces, and sculptures made with tape and objects from the recycle bin! I'm not a big saver, and I have a small flat file for each child that I keep special pictures in, but I always feel so bad getting rid of their other creations.

Israel is so adorable, as always!I have a huge open container with the toys my 6 year old daughter plays with and it's located in her closet. This way when she is done, she can open the closet, throw all the toys she played with in the container and close the closet.

Isreal's room is amazing! I love that you have a roll of butcher paper and markers there for him. My Mom always had plenty of art supplies and paper around for me to color on as a child and I credit her for my love of art and creative nature as an adult! I am not a Mom (yet) but I feel so passionate about fostering a child's creativity. :)

Love these photographs. His room looks amazing, so clean and warm at the same time. I bet he has lots of fun playing in there.

As a mom of three too, I do things quite the same as Emma. The children learn to clean up what they played with before moving on the another game and that way I keep things reasonable organized. And I throw away a lot too. If something's incomplete or broken to the point it can't be repaired, it goes out.

But I have to say, they are all really small still. I guess I will see where thsi household will be when they are teenagers. Oh my! ;-)

Concerning the toys, we tend to have very few things and the boy has to put back what he played with before taking out something else. Plus, we swap things from time to time, meaning there are never all x books, cars and bricks available, only as much as the boy himself can stay on top of.

Love this idea of a craft station keeping everything all together, need to do something like this for my boys as I find sometimes there stuff just spreads across the whole house..were is the work station from ? It is super cute for the children.

love his little play corner:)I have 3 kids 9,7 and 3. i am a huge fan of bins. i actually keep all of their toys organized in bins according to their type. i am the same as you and don't have everything in reach. i only have one decent size drawer (like the one on the right size of your sons desk) that i keep reachable toys in and i rotate things. it actually keeps the kids interested in their toys because after my kids play with certain toys for a while and seem to be getting disinterested i will rotate them out and put some toys in that they haven't seen in a while and they get excited about them because they forgot all about them! it works out that i don't have to keep buying as many new things for them to play with. when things stay in reach for to long it seems that they loose interest in them. love your blog and shop by the way:)

The chairs are from a company called Anka & I believe you can buy them from Fawn & Forest as well as Amazon. We bought them as a set, 1 table, 3 chairs & a backless matching stool (for a parent to sit at) They look a lot of Alvar Aalto chairs.

I'm a Montessori teacher and mom. Our plan (daughter is only four months right now) is to have low shelves with a tray/box system for each toy. So, say you had an Expedit shelf from IKEA on its side. Each cubby would house one complete toy or activity in its own container, either a tray or box. Two or three (out of eight) toys/activities are rotated each week. Because they're low, it's easy for the child to put everything away independently. The clincher? Only one thing out at a time. That way there is a continuous cycle going all day of 1. take out, 2. play with, 3. put away, and repeat. :) Israel's space is gorgeous. Children up until the age of 6 don't like clutter either, due to their sensitive period for order, so you don't need to feel guilty over your need to put things away. He's happy to have a system that keeps his space orderly, too!! <3

i have my kid's toys in their closet sitting on the floor inside bins and also I storage them inside an "adult" credenza that is in their room and serves as a changing table for my one year old. Don't like seeing toys everywhere and having my house take over by toys in the living room!